My degree included a ‘Year in Industry’ in Year 3.   I felt that a placement year in Dorset would provide me with the opportunity to go gain a wide range of experiences.

Before carrying out my ‘Year in Industry’ placement with Dorset Highways (DH) I had completed the first two years of my BEng Civil Engineering degree at Swansea University.  I returned to Swansea to finish my final year of my degree.

On my placement year I was based within the Traffic Signals and Highway Improvements team.  I spent the majority of my placement working with the traffic signal engineers of the team in the design of pedestrian crossings around Dorset.  I also gained experience in footway design, feasibility studies, accident investigation and right turn lane design.  I also used a variety of computer aided design programmes enabling me to improve my skills in AutoCAD which will prove useful for the future.

I found my year at DH challenging, enjoyable and rewarding and felt that my confidence in the working environment of engineering increased greatly.  I enjoyed the mix of office based design work and site visits.  It has been a good experience to see how a project develops from the initial stages through to the construction of the design.  The year in industry has been beneficial for both my studies and my future career.

After graduating I completed a Masters in Civil Engineering and rejoined Dorset for a year before moving on to work for a consultant company.

I got to know about Dorset Highways (DH) through the University of Portsmouth Careers forum where DH had posted one of its flyers offering student placement opportunities.  My interest in DH was primarily in the consultancy aspect of Highway Maintenance and Bridge Structures. I became well informed upon further research through the website by looking through the organisations profile, line of activities, on-going and future projects.

I was an international student from Nigeria where I completed a National Diploma in Civil Engineering and proceeded to further my studies through a direct entry to the University of Portsmouth.  I completed two years as an undergraduate, studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering before undertaking a year placement.  I returned to University to complete my degree and then secured a full-time job with Dorset Highways in the noise and specialism’s team designing traffic signal projects.

I worked in the highway maintenance team as a Trainee Engineer and worked on footway maintenance schemes around the county where I acquired some knowledge and experience in the design processes.  Due to the depth of engineering expertise I was surrounded by at DH this has enhanced my knowledge in pavement maintenance and design, application of statutory procedures, quality assurance, and CDM regulations, the use of design software and relevant application of highway design standards and codes of practice.  The schemes varied from resurfacing, to base course reinstatement, to pavement design, re-kerbing, to flag slabs and stones reinstatement.  I have also been exposed to eco-friendly recycling construction methods in pavement re-instatements on-site.

The strict compliance to the industry’s standard and regulations and the robust procedures in place for quality assurance have provided me with a great appreciation of how vital every stage of the engineering process is to the effective outcome of a project.  The team work, hands-on training and assistance DH has provided is of very high standard and this has motivated me to see highway engineering from a new and clearer perspective.  I was fortunate to join the ICE graduate training at DH and my aim is to become a chartered engineer.

I was attracted to the job because of the vast variety of different projects you get to work on. Furthermore you can see the project progress through all the stages which you cannot always do with the larger private companies.

Before going on placement with Dorset County Council (DCC), I had just completed my second year of my Meng Civil Engineering Degree and Loughborough University. The experience I gained by working for DCC has been invaluable and is great on a CV for future job applications.

During my time with DCC I was working in the highways improvements team. I worked on a vast amount of projects from footway design to major earthwork design. I worked really hard over the placement and this gave me more and more responsibility. As a result of this I had my own projects which I designed and took through to construction. Over the time I was here I had the following responsibilities:

• production of topographical surveys
• earthwork design and volume calculations
• attend public consultations meetings
• produce bills of quantities and estimates
• produce health and safety files
• vertical and horizontal carriageway alignment
• design of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure
• communicate with members of the public

As you can see from above my work was quite varied and so you will always have plenty to do. At the start it may be a bit slow but the more and more work you do, the greater your responsibilities will become.

One of the best parts of the job is being able to work in a combined office with all the other sections. This way you have a wealth of knowledge at your disposal for you to progress your understanding. Due to this and the training that is available, I was able to pick up number of skills, including general highway knowledge, CAD design, surveying and report writing. These are all useful skills which you will need in your future career.

In the future I am looking to become a chartered engineer. My placement with DCC has certainly given me the foundations for completing this objective and I would highly recommend it to any civil engineering student.

I had previously finished a module on transport infrastructure which interested me, so when the opportunity to work at Dorset Highways (DH) arose I did not hesitate to apply for it. The aspect of working on a range of projects combined with gaining valuable site experience was something which enticed me into the role as a Trainee Engineer.

Prior to joining the Dorset County Council (DCC) I had just completed the second year of my Masters Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Bath before joining the Highway Improvements team within Dorset Highways. I worked on a variety of improvement schemes around Dorset which involved both design work and site visits. I have since returned to university where I will continue with two more years of study, graduating in 2018.

During my time at DCC I worked in the Highway Improvements Team within DH. My initial responsibilities were to assist the Project Engineer with various schemes but as I progressed further into my role it was not long before I began working on my own projects. The scope of projects I was involved in ranged from small pedestrian crossings to high priority drainage improvement schemes. I was tasked with a variety of assignments such as:

• producing construction issue drawings
• creating models using AutoCAD Civils 3D
• undertaking topographical surveys
• design work using DMRB, MCHW and TSM
• producing estimates for Bills of Quantity
• site investigations
• producing feasibility reports
• producing health and safety files
• producing documents for tender
• supervising works on site
• drainage design
• setting out on site

These are a taste of the assignments you may find yourself working on – as I mentioned before you will be involved a range of projects which will require different approaches and expertise from other departments within DH. There is always plenty of work going around and personally, I occasionally found myself juggling projects around to suit my workload.

My placement year at DCC was certainly enjoyable and eventful. I am happy to say that I was able to achieve my personal objectives whilst I was here – which were to carry out a project from design to construction, gain valuable site experience and the opportunity to present my work. I enjoyed overcoming the challenges that I was presented with and especially the atmosphere working in the team environment.

This year has developed me on both a personal and professional level and has progressed me on the route to becoming a Chartered Engineer. I would highly recommend spending a placement year at the DCC as you will acquire a host of useful skills and experiences which will without doubt be beneficial for your future career.

Following on from my first two years of my degree, I was keen to apply some of the theory I had learnt in order to help me decide which area of civil engineering I was most interested.

As Dorset Highways (DH) get involved in such a diverse range of projects ranging from minor routine maintenance jobs to multi-million pound highway improvement schemes, I thought it would be the ideal environment to get the experience I required and further develop key skills that I would need throughout my career.

Before starting with DH I had just completed the second year of my MEng in Civil Engineering at the University of Portsmouth. I started my placement year in July 2015 and finished in August 2016.

While working for DH I applied a large amount of what I had learnt not just at university but also my previous work experience. Although I have never studied highways I found that a lot of the projects I was working on incorporated a range of general civil engineering principles and practical skills. I completed training courses in health and safety and attained a CSCS card while at DH, in addition to receiving a vast amount of on-the-job training in aspects such as Auto CAD and Civils 3D, surveying and on site construction activities.

Since finishing my time with DH I have returned to university to complete my third and fourth years of my MEng degree.

I worked as part of the Highways Improvement team who predominantly look after the design and supervision of any network improvements in Dorset.

The main project I worked on during my placement was the provision of a new footway between a village in West Dorset and the local primary school. In short this scheme had been in the pipeline for over 25 years but had never been built due to various issues. I started working on the conceptual design of the scheme soon after starting with DH and was lucky enough to see the project completed and being used by the public during my placement year.

In addition to this scheme I also worked on over 10 different projects ranging from a minor parking restriction scheme to the re-construction of the A338.

My main responsibilities throughout my placement were:

• completing surveying work
• producing conceptual and technical drawings
• attending parish council and public consultation meetings
• liaising with construction teams and attending site meetings
• communicating with different specialist teams throughout DCC
• statutory undertaker enquiries
• compiling feasibility, safety audit and option appraisal reports

What I enjoyed most about my time with DH was the range of work I was involved with. I gained a huge amount of knowledge from my experienced colleagues who were always happy to take the time to help me. Following on from my time with DH I would like to get some private sector experience and ultimately look to obtain chartership.

A course mate found the advertisement on our university website and emailed it to me as he knew I might be interested. Having lived in Dorset my whole life, I was keen to come back and being unsure about what specific direction I wanted to take within civil engineering and having barley covered it in lectures I thought highways would be worth a try and it would be interesting to work on projects in areas I knew and have grown up in.

Prior to placement I spent three years studying at Plymouth University advancing from BSc to BEng in Civil and Coastal Engineering. While with DCC I have done several formal training sessions, gaining certificates in:

• Construction Design management regulations
• Manual for streets – Overview of the Design Document
• Practical Highway Design
• Cycle and Walking – Better by design
• Design and construction of highway drainage

As well as this the Highways team funded my CSCS card exam (which I passed).

I worked as a trainee in the Highways Development team as their first student placement team member. My main duty was assisting other team members in their project work by carrying out design checks for various sites all over Dorset which included looking at:

• general arrangements
• surface finish plans
• kerbing layouts
• long and cross sections
• drainage layouts
• swept path analysis
• tree schedules
• and much more…

I also assisted in onsite inspections pre, post and during construction which involved tasks such as assessing the landscape, ensuring constructions works are being carried out correctly – keeping to our specifications and plans and checking completed works had been done to the correct depths, kerb heights, manhole positions etc.

The best part of the job was the variation between site and office work, so you’re never stuck doing one or the other for too long. I greatly enjoyed most of the training opportunities provided and feel I have learnt a lot from working with different members of the team. I will be returning to university for a further two years at MEng level and am still undecided about the specific career path I want to take succeeding my studies, however following this year, I know that working on highways and/or for local government are something I would definitely consider.